Tommy Milone pitched seven strong innings and Eduardo Escobar had three RBIs to lead the Twins to a 6-2 victory over the Royals in Kansas City Monday night.
Milone (8-4) gave up two runs on six hits, struck out four and walked one batter in his second straight quality start, MLB.com reports. Milone pitched seven shutout innings and had seven strikeouts Wednesday in a win against the White Sox.
The Twins got on the board right off the bat, so to speak, when leadoff hitter Aaron Hicks launched a solo homer to right field.
The Royals got one back in the bottom of the first and the game remained tied at 1-1 until the sixth inning, when Minnesota scored three runs on singles by Torii Hunter, Kurt Suzuki and Escobar.
Escobar brought in two more runs in the seventh on a bloop single down the left field line that outfielder Paulo Orlando couldn’t reach, according to the Star Tribune.
You're 3-for-3 with 3 RBI.
Go ahead and jump around, @escobarmaracay. http://t.co/9JdWvgMaGR #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/MLa3hSYevb
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 8, 2015
Trevor May, who had a miserable outing Sunday night against the Astros, came on in the eighth inning, giving up three singles but no runs.
May in.
Skipper Mollie loves putting fallen riders right back on the horse.
Smart.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) September 8, 2015
Kevin Jepsen pitched a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the win.
Withe the victory, the Twins are still in the hunt for the second American League wild card playoff spot – they’re 1 1/2 games behind the Rangers, according to MLB.com.
The Royals are in a bit of a slump; they’ve been outscored 31-9 in their last four games, all losses. They’re still in command in the AL Central, however, with an 82-55 record. The Twins are in second place, 11 games back.
The two teams play again Tuesday night, with Kyle Gibson starting for the Twins.
